Split from larger pieces of stone, the slate and quartzite veneers are just 0.1mm thick, and serve as an alternative to conventional finishes such as wood and metal.

The material is so thin that it’s both light and translucent, allowing the stone’s natural grain and pattern to be visible. It’s cured using glassfibre and a bespoke resin, before being shaped and hand-finished in a choice of four colours: Galaxy, Autumn White, Terra Red or Copper.

Sourced from Rajasthan and Pradesh in India, the stone veneer comes from blocks that have taken as long as 200 million years to form. It’s the first time Bentley has offered such a finish in its cars.

“Bentley is exploring new, fine and rare materials to offer our customers even more bespoke tailoring and choice," explains Geoff Dowding, Director of Mulliner Operations. "Stone veneers are only the beginning of what we plan to do with this luxurious and unique material.”

Mulliner, Bentley's bespoke coachbuilding division, gives customers the opportunity to order cars with unique specifications. They can opt to have their car’s entire dash fascia covered in stone, or smaller sections of interior trim can be made of the material. Pricing for the stone veneer will vary depending on the amount specified in each order.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen stone used in a car interior. Citroen sub-brand DS revealed the Crossback concept in 2015 with real granite trim in its cabin. Admittedly, this flexible veneer was sourced from a more local French source, but its presence suggests stone could also feature in more affordable production cars in the near future.

If a unique natural material is used as an accent trim in a car interior why overly process it so much that it barely resembles the original material? Why can't the stone be its natural colour rather than stained to resemble colours that was never meant to be in nature?
It looks fake and out of place and lacks the sophistication of a fine wood or turned stainless steel. The trim reminds me of the same plastic laminate with fake stone or marble patterns you see on kitchen countertops in the 70's and 80's.
This will make Bentley's too-liberal custom interior selection program even more open to even more garish interiors and colour combinations.

The 2009 Maybach 62s Landaulet featured polished sparkly black granite trim in an otherwise all white interior. Even though the ultra-exclusive car costs $1.35m, the granite trim looks more like a glittery bowling ball than a finely crafted piece of stone.

I beliee Bentley makes a lot of money for VW. But at what cost? Aesthetically and in terms of taste Bentley has hit rock bottom. To add yet another material to the dashboard in a conventional two-dimensional way fails even to explore the possibility of stone. In any case the Bentley interior is already overloaded with different - and often conflicting - shapes, materials and architecture. In short, a visual mess that only the most visually inarticulate customer takes for luxury. I suppose when you are rich, more means more, like money itself.

Probably mined by kids with dangerous methods after the Bentley procurement team have left the mine on their audit visit (and stone was already offered by Mercedes S Class Coupe about 15 years ago....)